Oz’s Maddie Mystery SOLVED: New lead in case of Brit girl snatched off beach

SEARCH: Cheryl Grimmer (right) went missing in 1970 on a New South Wales beach

“Outside the changing rooms on a beach in North Wollongong, New South Wales, Cheryl Grimmer was abducted in high summer on January 12 1970. Witnesses claimed to see a male grab the child after she had gone to the showers to wash after a morning on Fairy M”

New South Wales police spokesman

Outside the changing rooms on a beach in North Wollongong, New South Wales, Cheryl Grimmer was abducted in high summer on January 12 1970.

Witnesses claimed to see a male grab the child after she had gone to the showers to wash after a morning on Fairy Meadow beach.

Tragic Cheryl had been playing with her family including mum Carole and brothers Ricki, eight, Stephen, six, and five-year-old Paul.

The Grimmers moved from England to Australia in 1969, and settled into the Fairy Meadow hostel.

Dad John was often away with the Australian army with absent on the day his daughter vanished.

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INVESTIGATION: Detectives re-tracing the last known steps of Cheryl Grimmer

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TRAGIC: Cheryl's brother Stephen Grimmer, 52, has never given up trying solve the case

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Mum Carole decided to go to the beach on the hot summers day with her daughter Cheryl and her brothers Ricki, Stephen and Paul to a toilet block to shower.

Ricki later rushed to his mum that Cheryl would not come out of her cubicle after showering.

When Carole raced to the toilet block where her only daughter had been showing it was discovered the three-year-old had gone.

No one has ever been charged with her disappearance.

Now 50 years on from Cheryl’s disappearance New South Wales detectives say they have received new information about Cheryl’s suspected kidnapper.

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SAD: Carole Grimmer with her three sons the day after her daughter Cheryl disappeared

The lad is described as white, about 5ft tall, with a medium build, brown hair, blue eyes and fair complexion.

At the time, it is believed he was aged between 16 and 17, and would now be aged in his early 60s.

Acting on that information, detectives recently returned to Fairy Meadow Beach with several key witnesses in a bid to further draw on their memories.

Now aged in their 50s, those witnesses were aged nine, 10 and 12 at the time.

Wollongong Local Area Command Crime Manager, Detective Inspector Brad Ainsworth, said Cheryl’s disappearance is a mystery they still desperately want to solve.